Imagine getting golf lessons from Tiger Woods or Rory McIlroy. For many, it would be a dream come true to get expert guidance from pro players, and IMG is helping to make that dream a reality in the world of eSports and competitive video games with its new service, Boomeo. IMG, which also partnered with Turner to form ELeague, launched Boomeo—a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) boot camp—to help both pro and amateur players improve their skills using lessons created by professional Counter-Strike players from top eSports teams such as Cloud9, compLexity, Counter Logic Gaming, G2 Esports and SK Gaming.

Speaking with [a]listdaily, Simon Abitbol, founder of Boomeo at IMG eSports, said that, “Boomeo is a service designed to help users improve at CS:GO with super digestible content from some of the best pros in the world. We pair that content with our custom training mods that are revolutionizing how casuals and pros alike train and warm up—all while solving the pain point of the antiquated method of finding servers that has existed for nearly 18 years.”

Abitbol then discussed what inspired the service, stating that, “I’ve wanted to create an educational platform for eSports content for quite a while, but Boomeo’s specific short-form content format was inspired by getting tired of sifting through 25-minute videos to find content that was relevant to me and my playstyle. As it relates to Duels, our flagship training mod, I was sick of the meatgrinder that is Deathmatch, and recognized early on that it was a low-efficacy way to train and warm up. I knew there was a better way, and we think Duels is definitely better.”

When asked how Boomeo differed from asking for tips from pro players during livestreams, Abitbol said that, “learning from watching pros on Twitch is fantastic—I recommend doing it—but it’s like comparing a buckshot to a sniper rifle. Boomeo content is laser focused and short-form, so you can find the nuggets of info that apply to you and your game in just a few clicks.”

Abitbol also explained that, “Boomeo lessons are fully automated, and we update with fresh new content three times per week. In the future, we’ll be looking at human-reviewed demos, and even a coach-finder system, similar to how you’d book a golf coach.” Abitbol also stated that the eSports learning platform is designed for broad appeal. “I think we offer something for everyone,” he said. “New players have the fundamentals section which teach you the mechanics of the game. The pro strats and general guides are great for the mid-tier casual player all the way up even to semi-pros. Our gameplay definitely is beneficial for silver 1 rank all the way up to the best players in the world.”

We asked Abitbol if the learning system could be applied to a game such as League of Legends, which features an expanding roster of characters, each with their own strategies. Abitbol responded by saying, “most top-tier eSports became eSports because they are boundless in their depth and complexity, so there’s an infinite pool of content ideas to draw from. League of Legends is a great example of that. As new champions need new content—while certainly, it presents an interesting challenge as things shift with patches—overall, a lot of mechanics either stay the same or have a transferable skillset, and you’d never need to fully flush your entire library.”

With that, we asked Abitbol if there were plans to expand Boomeo to cover more than Counter-Strike. “Right now, we’re focusing on Counter-Strike,” said Abitbol. “There’s a lot to do, and we want to build the right foundation first. I like to say, we built the chassis and now we are working on adding Bluetooth. That being said, other titles are absolutely of interest down the road.”

So, what is IMG’s long-term plan with Boomeo? “To fill a whitespace and find a niche between the other awesome platforms that already exist,” said Abitbol. “Ultimately, people are going to find themselves in competitive game modes like matchmaking or a third-party service like FaceIt—we want to be the place you go first and spend some time learning and warming up before you go compete. We have some amazing features in the works that will make players want to come back after they compete too!”